FORT COLLINS — With things falling apart all around him, Colorado State linebacker James Skelton isn’t unlike any other senior on the team — trying to understand what this season full of losses means, why it’s happened, and what his role in laying down the foundation for any future success might be.

He uses a hand to scrub through his hair and offered the internally hurtful truth. “It’s not how I saw it happening,” he said.

A 1-6 record entering the stretch run isn’t how anyone in the program thought this season might play out. And yet it has, for many reasons, but Skelton quickly snapped back into the positive, grind-it-out perspective that new coach Jim McElwain has largely been successful in implementing.

“It’s a big second half to the season,” Skelton said. “We’ll make something positive out of this.”

If not for this season, which has five games remaining starting Saturday against Hawaii, maybe for future campaigns. After all, the coach talks about the long haul, seeing this thing through and not accepting a quick fix as much as he talks about still wanting something significant out of this season – no matter how adverse things have become.

The seniors are an important part of the reclamation project.

“Yeah, I believe so,” Skelton said. “Through the transition of coaches and in here for Mac’s first year, I would like to think that we’re laying the foundation for what Ram football should be. The record may not reflect that but I think the attitudes of the players and the mindsets and our work ethic and stuff like that. I think that’s all set in.”

Specifically to Skelton’s situation, laying a foundation for the greater good has meant sacrificing his personal playing time and any goals he’d hoped to achieve. He’s simply not on the field as much as he used to be, and it has little to do with opposing offenses presenting packages that require fewer linebackers on the field.

Last season he was a Burlsworth Trophy (most outstanding player that began as a walk-on) candidate, finishing second on the team in tackles (91), fourth in the Mountain West in tackles per game (8.1) with two tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and a sack. He was one of the most productive members of the defense.

Now, he’s as much a teacher as player. The example he sets off the field, in practices and in meeting rooms is in many ways more important to this coaching staff than his tackle count on Saturdays. And it’s reflected in the stats. Young linebackers are soaking up more snaps. Skelton’s 21 tackles trail four other linebackers and Shaquil Barrett, a linebacker/defensive lineman-hybrid.

“It’s just a whole new mentality of the entire team and everybody rotating and everybody getting in there, it’s truly a team effort now. I think that’s what it is,” Skelton said. “Yeah, it’s an adjustment but you’re not going to fight what they want to do, so it is a little bit of an adjustment but that’s what it is. I think that both coaching staffs asked of me to be a leader, and that’s what I’m trying to do for the team.”

It’s that team he’s doing his best to help turn around so one day he returns to Fort Collins, watches and feels pride in what he sees.

“The record hurts,” Skelton said. “There’s no way around it. You play the game to win, that’s why you play football. So, that side of it is unfortunate, but I think that there’s a positive light.”

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

Typical CSU player…a selfless, under-rated, big-hearted guy that puts the team in front of himself. Skelton could’ve been great this year with defenses focusing on Sisson et all. No, it didn’t work out that way, but he’s still a great team player and a heckova nice guy to boot.

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.